was of a reddish colour, some grey, and some black; but all might be converted by burning into white lime.

The lime burnt at our kilns," said their conductor, "is very much sought after, not only in this neighbourhood, but also in foreign parts. We send it in casks to the West Indies."

"Do

6 to

you know," said their father, what use lime is applied in the West Indies?"

Harry and Lucy replied, that they supposed that lime served there, as it did in England, to make mortar, and to manure land.

"It is also employed in making sugár, said their father.

Harry and Lucy begged to be informed in what manner.

"I am glad,” he replied, "that our visit to the lime quarry has turned our attention towards sugar-making; for on that subject, during our stay at Clifton, we shall have the best opportunity of informing

ourselves. In the port of Bristol we shall see ships from the West Indies unloading their cargoes of sugar; and on board of those ships, if we are fortunate, we shall find some stems of the sugar cane. In the manufactories here we shall meet with the apparatus required for making sugar, which apparatus is to be exported to the West Indies: here too are extensive refining houses, where they extract from brown sugar that pure white substance, that you see every morning on the breakfast table. Let us walk at once to Bristol, and try to satisfy our curiosity. But tell me, children, whether you already possess any information on the subject of sugar-making?"

Harry and Lucy replied, that they had read, in Edwards's West Indies, an account of the sugar plantations in Jamaica, of the sugar canes, and mills.

sugar

Lucy was asked what she remembered of this. She recollected that the sugar cane is a sort of straw-coloured jointed reed, about the thickness of the handle of an umbrella.

It grows in general to about the height of a man, and at its top are leaves like flags. The canes are cut in autumn, and the sugar-making time is a season of gladness and festivity to man and beast, especially to the poor negroes, who work in the plan

tations.

Here Lucy was near going off, far away from the sugar-making, to talk of the poor negroes, but her father called her back again, by the question of "What is to be done to the sugar canes after they are cut?" They are tied in small bundles," said Lucy," and carried to the mill, where the sugar juice is to be squeezed out of them." Lucy looked to Harry for assistance when she came to the mill.

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"It consists," said Harry, "of three large iron rollers, turned by wind or water, or horses, or oxen, or perhaps, now, the people may have learned to work them with steam. The bundles of cane are passed between the rollers, and squeezed again and again, till all the juice is pressed out.

It is caught in a wooden gutter, lined with lead, and runs into the house where it is to be boiled. It is said to be of great consequence to boil it as quickly as they can; but I do not know the reason." "The reason is lest it should ferment," said his father. "Do you know for what purpose it is boiled, Lucy?"

"That the water which is in the juice may evaporate," replied Lucy; "and that, on cooling the liquor, the sugar may crystallise, there not being water enough to keep it dissolved; just as we saw the crystallising of the alum for my basket."

"The boiling is also necessary," said her father," to cause the other vegetable matters contained in the juice to separate in the form of scum, when they are removed by the skimmer. And here it is that lime is so serviceable in rendering the separation of this scum complete. It also renders the liquid thinner and less viscid, so that the particles of sugar can move freely, and crystallise more readily. Do

you remember, Harry, by what name they call that ropy portion of the liquor that will not crystallise?"

"Molasses," answered Harry. "When the sugar has crystallised it is put into casks, with holes in the bottom. The molasses drains to the bottom of the casks, and runs out at the holes."

Harry, Lucy, and their father were still engaged in talking about sugar, when they found themselves arrived at the Wet Docks of Bristol. The Wet Docks are a basin of water, formed by throwing flood-gates across the ancient bed of the Avon, the river itself being turned into an artificial channel. The water within the basin was prevented by the flood-gates from falling with the tide, so that the ships were kept constantly afloat, even at low water.

Our party found the basin crowded with ships. They distinguished the ships arrived from the West Indies by the hogsheads of sugar that the crews were hoisting out, and by the black sailors whom